


A Quiet Day

by godcomplexfics (godtiercomplex)



Series: The World Keeps Turning On Its Axis [15]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtiercomplex/pseuds/godcomplexfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple day in the life of Tashi Rinpoche along with his brothers, Emran and Nalin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quiet Day

**Author's Note:**

> A lovely anon was like ‘I could read about Tashi all day’ and I could write about Tashi all day. So Tashi fiction for both of us. 
> 
> Here’s to you, anon.

 

Tashi’s home was in the quieter part of Thimphu, as far as he could get away from the main business and still be connected to his people. He liked his privacy and the ability to just sit in silence sometimes without neighbors questioning what he was doing. On the westernized calendar hanging on his front entrance’s wall, the date had a purple star. And on his front step, dripping wet from the rain, was Emran.

“Well, are you going to let me in?” Emran sounded annoyed, and Tashi let him in, wondering out loud about the lack of an umbrella or rain coat. Emran glared at him, and with a glance at that purple star, Tashi let him sit on a wooden chair and brought him a change of clothes. He was thick where Emran was thin, so they didn’t fit right, but they did the job.

“I was not expecting _you_ today,” he settled on saying, and sat down on the floor to consider Emran. “Is something the matter?”

“Can’t I just come and hang out sometimes?” Emran waved a hand at his wet clothes and pack. “I brought over my game so we could play this new thing together. You don’t need the cartridge, we can just use wifi and play that way.”

“What game?”

“ _Mario Party_ ,” Emran said. “You’ve heard of Mario, right?”

Tashi sighed and rubbed his chin as he crossed his legs. “I am aware of what Mario is.”

His siblings seemed to be under the impression that due to his lack of interest in their more material things, he was unaware of popular culture. But he kept up to date as much as he could so he would not be caught unaware.

“So? Let’s play--”

“Emran, I feel that I must warn you that Nalin is due to arrive at any minute. So, if your arrival here was an attempt to escape him, you’ve failed.”

Emran frowned at him. “It’s not Nalin I’m trying to avoid. It’s my bosses. And why is he coming over anyway? Doesn’t he have important western business to deal with?”

Tashi hesitated, but Emran picked up on it. “Nalin’s running away, then? Of course he is--”

“He’s just coming here to relax for a day before he’s due in England,” Tashi interrupted. “Now, what was this about your bosses?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. We can save it for later.”

Tashi studied Emran for a long time. He did not make the same mistakes others made when looking at the boy, since they saw him as just a mere child and did not understand all that he had been through to gain his wisdom.  He had known Emran for far too long to do such a thing. Instead he took in how tired his younger brother looked and recounted what he had read up on for the current state of affairs for his neighbors. After he did all that, he took his 3DS off the charger and held it carefully as he did with all the things he treasured.

“ _Mario Party_ , was it? May I be Luigi?”

“Why would you want to be him?” Emran made a face but got his 3DS and came to sit on the floor next to Tashi.

“Because it’s his year, and it feels right to honor him.”

“That’s really lame,” Emran said, but started up the game, and they lost themselves for a few hours in that manner. The rain continued, and the sun didn’t come back out. His raven, Karma, was looking out of the window morosely. Tashi couldn’t offer her any comfort, but hummed lightly at her until she flew and landed near them. Close enough to watch, but not to be touched.

“That’s Karma?” Emran asked while eating khabzey and licking his fingers before taking his turns.

“Yes, there’s never been another.” Tashi smiled at her, and she titled her head before looking away.

“I wonder how these animals find us. Or do we make them by keeping them with us?”

“You mean the animals that many of us have that never age?” Tashi considered Karma. “Maybe they could sense our loneliness, and they were also alone. They are representations just as much as we are.”

“Hmm, I can see that,” Emran said. “Sensing our loneliness. . . Nalin’s had that peacock forever. Even when I met him so long ago, it was by his side.”

“And Karma has always been with me, long before I met Nalin. And yours as well, hasn’t it, Emran?”

Emran shrugged. “Oh. But that means that you can experience loneliness, huh?”

“I may not be human,” Tashi said as his phone buzzed in his pocket right before the front door opened, “but I think that we all have feelings that are like humans.”

“I don’t know if our feelings are always like humans. We go through so much more than they ever could.” Emran almost sounded bitter. Tashi could hear Nalin in the entranceway, getting louder as he saw another set of shoes.

“Humans can suffer as much as we can,” Tashi settled on saying. “But their deaths are usually permanent.”

“‘Usually’.”

“There is that Jesus to consider.”

“Why are you talking about Jesus?” Nalin asked, and Tashi knew he really wanted to ask why Emran was there, but he was practicing being polite. They were working on redefining their boundaries, and it was going to be a long march towards something they both could handle.

“Welcome home,” Tashi said. “Emran came to visit and to play _Mario Party_. You can join us if you’d like.”

Nalin looked lost for a moment before he shook his head. “If that’s what we’re going to do, then I’ll tend my village.”

Emran looked at him, and Tashi translated as Nalin went down the hall and dropped his bags off in his bedroom. “He’s talking about _Animal Crossing_.”

“He plays _Animal Crossing_?” Emran sounded surprised.

“I have a perfect village,” Nalin saidm coming back with his 3DS in hand. “That doesn’t happen overnight, I’ll have you know.”

Tashi half-smiled as Emran demanded to see Nalin’s village, and they sat on the couch, shoulder to shoulder, looking at the tiny screen. While they fussed over the villagers (“CoCo is obviously the best.” “I let her leave my town and I ended up restarting to get her back.”), Tashi made dinner. Preparing the food and watching over it was calming. Slow and methodical actions that lead to an eventual conclusion pleased him. The rain was lessening as night drew closer, and he hoped that meant that Karma would be able to fly as she so desperately wanted. She was just finicky about getting wet, and it was these small things that made Tashi love her so.

He served dinner, and they talked about video games and upcoming releases. Nalin insisted on washing the dishes after, so Tashi joined Emran as he had an after dinner smoke. Tashi watched the smoke curl up into the sky as they stood on the wet grass and looked up at the night sky.

“I just want the rain to stop sometimes. For it to never rain again,” Emran said, “but I know we need it. But I just wish that . . .”

“You just want your people not to die because of it,” Tashi finished for him. “But dying is what humans do. Dying is what we will all do eventually. There’s no need to fear it.”

“How can you be like that?”

“Practice.” Tashi smiled. “A mountain does not form overnight, and neither did I, and neither did you. The scars from your past will shape you and change you. It’s up to you how much you’ll allow it to.”

Emran considered that and put out his cigarette.

“I can’t believe you have Nalin in your kitchen washing dishes. He’s always seemed too above us to do that.”

“He does live alone, so he knows how to do all of this. He’s had the practice.” Tashi looked towards his house, and then at his brother. “He’s not so above it all.”

“I guess.” A pause. “I need to rethink how I view all of you guys.”

“That would be someplace to start.”

“Hmm.” Emran sighed. “Let’s go back in. It’s starting to rain again.”

Tashi studied him as they went, and he still looked tired, but not as much as before.

“I’ll make up a bed for you,” he said. “Spend the night.”

Emran looked back at him, “Nalin won’t mind? Since this was supposed to be your day or whatever.”

“Nalin will be fine. Spend the night, Emran.”

Emran looked away and sighed. “Fine.” Tashi patted Emran’s back, and then went inside the house, already thinking about what he should make for breakfast.


End file.
